31 Days of Halloween - Day 7: Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1

For the last few years I always do a 31 days of Halloween month. The past few years I re-read all the original Goosebumps books and before that I'd watch 31 horror movies. However I realized every single time I watched 31 Horror movies I exclusively picked ones I enjoyed. I decided to do something slightly different. I composed a list of every horror movie I owned and put them in alphabetical order. Then using a random number generator I generated 31 numbers and watched the movies that corresponded with those numbers. Some are great films and others… well… are less than fun let's say. I hope you enjoy!

Day 7: Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1 (Movie #399)

I love Troma. I'm not ashamed about that at all. I've had Lloyd Kaufman on my podcast multiple times and have always loved talking to him about film as well as the history of Troma and their films. At the end of the day however their films are hit and miss. Some of the films considered "Troma Classics" are really difficult to watch. As much as I've loved most of the Troma Classics I never was a big fan of the Class of Nuke 'Em High Series (even though I own the box set).

Despite that when I heard that Lloyd was remaking/rebooting/doing a sequel to Nuke 'Em High though, I was excited. The Kaufman of the now is much more interesting than 80's Kaufman. He's grown as a director in a lot of ways and by allowing people to write his scripts for him it widens the sense of humor of all the films. While Lloyd will tell you that Troma's War and Class of Nuke 'Em High are among his best films it's simply not true. From Tromeo & Juliet up until now the films have had funnier scripts, better acting and just simply look better.

Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1 (and I'll at least assume Volume 2) is never going to be my all-time favorite Troma film (That's either Cannibal The Musical or Tromeo & Juliet) but it's a great film. It contains some of the funniest moments in Troma films, possibly the most beautiful cast you'll ever see in a Troma film, some of the most bizarrely stylized editing I've ever seen and represents the complete and total anarchy that Troma represents in the film world.

The film follows the basic premise of the original Class of Nuke 'Em High but is different and demented enough that it all feels fresh instead of like a rehash. The original film was always a great concept but it always felt slow at moments, this movie however movies at rapid speed and is non-stop fun. The only thing I prefer in the original is probably the Nerd Meltdown.

Also, no spoilers, but if you're a Troma film there is a sequence that involves Lloyd screaming at a what is basically a collection of cameos from from various films from Troma past.

Matt Kelly is the host of the popular podcast The Saint Mort Show, a frequent contributor to Geekscape.net, the founder of Chords for Cures and the co-writer/co-director of the upcoming comedy Describing the Moon. He also loves it when people surprise him with purchases from his Amazon Wishlist… just saying.